Following a clear failure of its foreign policy in the Sahel region, President Emmanuel Macron of France is constituting a new team to help regain lost grounds.
However, African foreign policy experts doubt the success of the move with one describing it as “a man-child fighting hard to retain its feeding bottle”
The new team’s job description is “to restore confidence in Africa and build a new African policy following the Sahel debacle, and against the backdrop of Russia’s continued offensive in the continent,” sources familiar with the development told PREMIUM TIMES.
To lead this team, France’s current Ambassador to Nigeria, Emannuelle Blatmann, will return to Quai d’Orsay as the Head of Africa and Indian Ocean at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Ms Blatmann will replace Christophe Bigot, the current director of the unit who has been commended for the progress of France’s strategy in Africa but recently criticised for the recent fallouts France has had within the Sahel region.
The replacement will take effect on 15 January 2024. It is perceived as some form of punishment” for Mr Bigot for the recent failures of France in the Sahel, our source said.
PREMIUM TIMES reached out to the French embassy in Nigeria for comments via a phone call but the embassy said it could not comment on the matter at this time.
Other members of the French team are Jeremie Robert, who will advise President Macron on African affairs and Anne-Claire Legendre, advisor on the MENA region.
READ ALSO: Sahel reaches ‘grim milestone’ with 2m displaced – UN
Mr Robert is France’s Consul General in New York. Not new to France-Africa relations, he was an advisor for Africa, Development and Global Affairs in the office of the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs where he contributed to the renewal of France’s relations with Africa and the rebuilding of its development policy, and worked on the management of the crisis in the Sahel.
Ms Legendre leaves her job as spokesperson of the foreign ministry to bring back to life a watered-down relationship with the Sahel, a terrain she is no stranger to.
She has worked as an advisor for the Middle East, consul general in New York, ambassador to Kuwait among several other diplomatic assignments she has handled.
The fall of France in the Sahel
In recent years, political instability in many West African countries and the Sahel region has seen the fall of France’s popularity in its former colonies and a possible move towards Russia.
From Mali to Burkina Faso to Niger, soldiers have taken over the leadership of these countries. These soldiers have shown themselves as no fans of France and have shown their disenchantment by gravitating towards Russia.
For instance, Burkina Faso’s transitional government in December 2022 demanded that the French ambassador leave their country. It also expelled the embassy’s defence attache.
Mali did the same by expelling the French ambassador in 2022 amidst growing tensions with its former colonial lord.
The coup in Niger and the eventual withdrawal of French troops from the West African country was perhaps the last straw that made the French government realise it had lost in the region.
Just like its allies, Mali and Burkina Faso, Niger also expelled the French ambassador. The face-off with France has also led to the closure of the embassy in Niger.
Very recently, the West African country suspended all cooperation with the International Organisation of Francophone Nations (OIF), noting that it has always been used by France as “an instrument to defend French interests.”
African Experts React
“It is clear that France’s policy in Africa is failing and it will fail. In the interest of Africa, it will fail,” Owei Lakemfa, a Nigerian commentator on international relations, said, adding that France has lived on other people, especially African people.
He said the European country’s policies in Africa have been that of domination and exploitation.
Matter of fact, France has in my view been parasitic in its foreign and economic policy, the African labour unionist said.
“If France is working on a new policy, it has to be a policy that is not exploitative but if it is exploitative as I expect it to be, the prayer will be that France will fail,” Mr Lakemfa said.
France should look inward for means to develop itself rather than looking for African countries to exploit, he added.
Also, the Speaker of the ECOWAS parliament, Sidie Tunis, had called on the West African body to re-examine the relationship between its Francophone members and France.
“While we are pushing for democracy, we (ECOWAS) should also begin to re-examine our relationship with the West, especially the relationship between French-speaking countries and France,” the speaker told PREMIUM TIMES following the coup in Niger and the resentment towards France in the country.
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